Tour of Hainan, stage 8, Dongfang-Danzhou, km 172.4

Hofland keeps the momentum for Belkin

With one day to go in the 2013 Tour of Hainan, Moreno Hofland proved once again that he’s the best rider in this race as he claimed his third stage victory in Danzhou and made it eight out of eight for Belkin Pro Cycling. While the wearer of the yellow jersey showed no weakness, Jiao Pengda of Champion System took over from Hengxiang’s Liu Yilin as best Asian rider at the end of a very demanding stage 8.

“On paper it was an easier stage than two days ago”, Hofland acknowledged. “But the riders made it a harder race in the second category climb [with 65km to go]. The peloton split in different groups. We were five Belkin riders at the front so the situation was good for us but Theo [Bos] was dropped. The CCC Polsat team controlled the race in the hills zone to get the points for the KOM [for polka dot jersey Mateusz Taciak who maintained his lead]. We helped them a bit and managed to keep the race under control.”

Attackers Grégoire Tarride of La Pomme Marseille, Oleksandr Polivoda from Atlas Personal-Jakroo and Ukraine’s Andriy Vasylyuk got no chanceto stay away once again and it was another bunch sprint in Danzhou on a very different finale from the previous day in Dongfang as it was at the end of a 3.4km straight line! It made it a much tighter sprint but Hofland emerged as the winner for the third time. Former polka dot jersey wearer Vitaly Buts was fuming because of the missed opportunity to beat Belkin. “It was so close”, the Ukrainian lamented.

“200 metres before the line, I got boxed in”, Hofland described. “But Boom moved to the right. It opened a gap for me and the outcome was very good. Now for sure we’ll try to win again and make it nine victories out of nine stages. It’ll probably be a bunch sprint and Theo is the fastest guy in the peloton. It should be awesome! But I must stay aware that the peloton is really nervous and every second, something can happen. It’s another 148 kilometres to go. We’ll celebrate the Tour of Hainan only after winning it really.”

Jiao can eye happiness for the grand finale in Chengmai as well. “It’ll be nice to ride with the blue jersey”, he said. “But during the race, I had no idea where my competitors Liu Yilin and Cheong King Wai were. I only focused on staying with the yellow jersey and I realized later that they got dropped and I’d become the best Asian rider.”

Stage 8 Results – Tour of Hainan
1. Moreno Hofland (BEL) 4:18:53
2. Vitaliy Buts (UKR)
3. Lars Boom (BEL)
4. Mykhailo Kononenko (UKR)
5. Maksym Averin (ARH)
6. William Walker (DPC)
General classification 
1. Moreno Hofland (BEL) 30:06:59
2. Frédéric Amorison (CRE) +1:07
3. Thomas Leezer (BEL) +1:14
4. Jos van Emden (BEL) +1:17
5. William Walker (DPC) +1:21
6. Mykhailo Kononenko (UKR) +1:22

LEADERBOARD going into stage nine, the classification leaders are:
Yellow Jersey (Individual GC): Moreno Hofland (BEL) 
Green Jersey (Points Classification): Moreno Hofland (BEL) 
Polka Dot Jersey: Mateusz Taciak (CCC)
Blue Jersey (Best Asian Rider Classification): Jiao Pengda (CSS)
Teams GC: Belkin Pro Cycling Team

Sprint 1
1. Aandriy Vasyluk (UKR)
2. Oleksandr Polivoda (ARH)
3. Gregoire Tarride (LPM)

Sprint 2
1. Oleksandr Polivoda (ARH)
2. Aandriy Vasyluk (UKR)
3. Gregoire Tarride (LPM)

Sprint 3
1. Oleksandr Polivoda (ARH)
2. Aandriy Vasyluk (UKR)
3. Jos van Emden (BEL)

KOM 1 (Cat.2, Elevation 450m)
1. Aandriy Vasyluk (UKR)
2. Oleksandr Polivoda (ARH)
3. Mateusz Taciak (CCC)

KOM 2 (Cat.3, Elevation 398m)
1. Aandriy Vasyluk (UKR)
2. Oleksandr Polivoda (ARH)
3. Vitaliy Buts (UKR)

KOM 3 (Cat.3, Elevation 345m)
1. Aandriy Vasyluk (UKR)
2. Oleksandr Polivoda (ARH)
3. Vitaliy Buts (UKR)